1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the audiovisual arts and to software and systems for manipulating data sets in the cinematic and literary fields.
2. Description of the Related Art
Audiovisual presentations are common and play a major role in modern life. Movies, demonstrations, television programs and other audiovisual information may be prepared and stored as files, which may be manipulated by computer or other electronic devices. Such files may be edited via a variety of technologies. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,890,639, 5,367,341, 5,388,197, 6,052,508, and 6,965,723. The contents of each cited patent, and in particular the hardware, software, methods and systems for storing and editing such audio video files specifically are incorporated by reference in their entireties.
Audiovisual presentations prepared by these and other editing methods have proliferated greatly. An emerging problem is the length of many audiovisual presentations. Unfortunately, many movies, television programs and other series last an hour or more. Busy people often cannot watch such presentations. Some movies and television shows thus are not seen by some people because of their length. Accordingly, any method that can provide the basic information of a long audiovisual presentation in a shorter time would expand the audiovisual market and promote further business. At the same time, the advent of small screen video players, such as the video iPod™ and video cell phone, call for short format audiovisual presentations. The small-screen market for feature films and television programs certainly would improve with shorter running times. In the same vein, long download times and large file sizes of full-length feature films are problematic to media consumption. Despite these needs, attempts to systematize the shortening of audiovisual files have not progressed sufficiently.